Another airline loses license, cancels all flights | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Granted by the aviation regulatory authority in a given country, the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) is the primary certification that an airline needs before it can start running and advertising flights commercially.

To receive it, the airline needs to prove that it has the necessary aircraft, staff, safety systems, and financial resources to operate long-term; lack of the latter, or a significant change in its financial situation, is also the most common reason for an airline to have its AOC revoked.

Airlines that had their AOCs revoked due to lack of finances over the last six months include Estonia’s SmartLynx Airlines, Austria’s Mali Air, and Swedish charter carrier H-Bird. In the U.S., Houston-based Starflite Aviation in the U.S. recently lost its license amid an FAA investigation into its pilot training records.

Maleth-Aero latest regional airline to lose AOC

Over the last month, two airlines based in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta lost their AOCs — shortened as LEAF for Lease and Fly, the Maltese subsidiary of the Portuguese wet lease airline Hi Fly was shut down in March 2026 and less than a year after receiving certifications to launch as a regional carrier in May 2025.

As first reported by Swiss airlines outlet ch-aviation, fellow Maltese charter airline Maleth-Aero has now followed its competitor in having its AOC revoked on April 10.

The ACMI and charter carrier was founded in 2011 and has been owned by U.S.-based AELF FlightService since 2021. Over the last year, it has also faced a lawsuit from cruise line Carnival over a contract to run charter flights to the Caribbean for travelers from the United Kingdom; Carnival claimed Maleth-Aero overcharged for services not included in the contract by more than $3.3 million.

Throughout the lawsuit and counterlawsuit Maleth-Aero filed against Carnival, the airline also ran up significant legal debts that likely led to the final loss of the AOC.

Maleth-AERO is another charter carrier based out of Malta International.

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Here is what happens when an airline loses its AOC

In August 2025, the Canadian Transportation Agency suspended the airline’s license to run charter flights in the country over a lack of liability insurance. With the country it is based in now also having revoked its AOC, Maleth-Aero has had to cancel all its future flights.

These airlines filed for bankruptcy in 2025:

Spirit Airlines (Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc.): Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time on Aug. 29,2025.
Ravn Alaska: Ceased operations in August 2025 after earlier Chapter 11 proceedings; shut down flights and folded into other operations such as New Pacific.
Corporate Air: Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (restructuring) in September 2025 as part of a planned sale, according to Bondoro.
Play Airlines: The Reykjavik-based airline shut down operations and entered involuntary bankruptcy in September 2025.
Braathens Airlines:The airline was forced to file for bankruptcy and canceled all of its flights in September 2025.

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As reported by local press, all contracts for flights on its fleet of several Airbus A330 aircraft have been called off as its future hangs in the balance (while airlines are theoretically able to regain their AOC, most do not do so given the dire financial or operational situation that led to it getting revoked in the first place).